THINKING ABOUT WRITING this post got me thinking about how popular food gets bastardized and sometimes for the better. For example, pav bhaji is a Maharashtrian invention which the Gujaratis are rocking, but the topic merits a separate blog post.

Kanda poha (kande pohe sounds even uglier) is a Marathi snack item, I found out a few years ago. Of course that stuff prepared in Marathi homes could be worth eating, but the stuff sold on the streets in the morning, along with upma and sheera and sabudana khichdi, is nowhere close to the fabulous bataka pauwa that was made at my house for breakfast very often. With a mug of hot ginger/mint/lemongrass tea, there are few things that beat bataka pauwa as breakfast. No, I’m just fucking with you guys; there are a fuck-load of things that make breakfasts worth waking up in the morning for.

So, the kande-pohe/kanda-poha (kanda = onion) isn’t something I’ll eat ever again, because it does not make sense to have the flavour of onion in it. Luckily for many people who share my disgust of kanda in poha, a Marwadi man from Rajasthan sells poha on Old Nagardas Road in Andheri, outside Veerashaiva Bank, opposite some jewellery store. It isn’t hard to find; Banna, the good man, sells only poha – no upma, sheera or sabudana khichdi – and I’m glad he chose to focus on selling just poha, because he’s doing it right.

The poha is not cooked with onions, but he sprinkles raw onions if you want, along with coriander, sev and lemon juice. My poha will never be topped with raw onions or farsan of any type (Why would anyone want to make poha crunchy? Eat a cucumber or something.), but the coriander and lemon juice enhance the flavour of the dish. I would have loved if the poha had bataka (potato), but I won’t complain because I’m just so happy to get poha fluffy as should be. Oh, and this has peanuts, and some of you like that, and it’s cooked in groundnut oil, in case you wanted to know.

I’ve decided to eat fruits and other raw vegan food during the week and eat cooked vegan food on Sundays or other occasions, because as much as I want to go fully raw, most of the other vegans eat shit or don’t know how to write, so the ones who have taste in food and can put together an article have to…

Banna sells fluffy-as-fuck poha Rajasthani-Marwadi style on Old Nagardas Road in Andheri East outside Veerashaiva Co-op Bank. 7 am – 10:30 am on weekdays, and 7 am to noon on Sundays. Tell him the long-haired guy who comes on the cool bike sent you.